Devilboy: First off, I want to say thanks for taking the time to meet with me today. I just wanted to know how the process is going for this recording, how do you see it progressing?
Dave: It’s great! Yeah, we’re pretty used to working with Lucky (Lucky Lew at Wave Parade Studios, local producer responsible for recording and producing all of tDH’s offerings thus far…) since the beginning. We are really comfortable with him now. The drums went really easy, my tracks…like, I was one tracking most of the stuff so that was really a time saver when you have so much to do in a couple days. And Dan just busted through his stuff, so really its just a matter of keeping Lucky on task because he’s such a cry baby…(laughs)
DB: Now remember, this is going down into print…(Laughter)
Dave: No, we love Lucky. He’s like the fifth band member, really. We have a few of them, actually. Like there’s DJ D, Lucky, you, for instance. You’ve taken care of us quite a bit with what you’ve written. We appreciate that kind of stuff.
DB: Well, thanks for that.
Dave: It’s needed, you know? Its hard work just to come up with the music, learning how to play it and play it well, getting shows, and doing all of that stuff. We need those extra hands behind us t help support us.
DB: You guys just put out Hear No Evil as recently as January. What was your motivation to jump back into the studio so soon?
Dave: Just trying to keep shit fresh. The motivation was to have an approach – instead of taking so long to get the songs out to the people and playing them live – like, by the time they come out they are kind of old, y’know? We want to stay fresh, we want to produce good new stuff quickly…
Jason: …plus we have the money…(laughs)
Dave: Yeah, we have the money now, we better use it while we’ve got it and are motivated.Dan: We just don’t want to get stale. We made the mistake before of waiting too long. I guess, in a sense, we want to keep our fan base happy but at the same time we want it just as bad (to record new music). We want to hear what we write in all its glory. I would like to record every single song. I mean, we have so many songs that have yet to be recorded. I think our motivation is: we want it, secondly to keep our fans happy. That’s what we are always striving for. You know, I really don’t know how people make it. It’s a tough biz. But I think we are doing things right. The people who turn out to our shows is what keeps it all going, the people’s response.
DB: Are you looking at this as another EP or will it be a longer play release?
Dave: It’s going to be longer, one song longer. The last one was three, this one’s going to be four. And it’s the final in the series. See No…, Hear No…, Speak No Evil. This one is Speak No Evil.
DB: Ah, ok.Dave: After this we will probably try to put together a full length or maybe like a “Best Of”…
Jason: Maybe include all the tracks from these into one, and then add maybe a couple more…
Dave: Yeah…maybe we’ll just call it “Evil”, or something
(Laughter)
DB: Is it safe to say with this outing that you guys are refining your signature sound?
Dave: For now, we’ve changed it up a little so its not just the bass but its kind of a different experience. We like to call it 3DH (laughter). We’ll play a couple of shows like that until we get homey (pointing to Austin) up to speed and then he’s going to take over with a bunch of stuff coming up in May. We’re hoping everything will be on track for that because that’s how tDH should be heard, four guys.
Jason: Its 3DH…in 3D…
DB: Oh ok…you guys are going to jump on that bandwagon, huh?
(Laughter)
DB: Austin, I don’t want you to feel out of place or anything, but how do you feel about jumping into this situation?
Austin: Cool, its cool. I definitely…I’ve know these guys forever and we’ve played before in the past, so, and I’m familiar with their music and I’m open to the whole transition.
DB: The South by Southwest Festival (held March 16 thru March 20 2011) is coming up. Do you see yourselves participating in events such as that, do you want to participate in those events or do you kind of keep them at arm’s length?
Dave: We’ve tried to join. They expect bands to submit their audition and then maybe they will get back to you in seven months or so…I don’t know how those people (bands) get in. But I haven’t really looked into it that much either…(laughs). But I would like to play all of them, seems like it would be fun. A lot of people go just to listen to music and that’s all you can really ask for.
Dan: If bands have to pay to participate…I’m not really a big fan of pay-to-play situations, y’know? I feel you should work your way up, but the second somebody starts to ask for money from bands to play…I think there is something wrong there. That’s not the way it used to be.
DB: How does your personal life affect the Devil Himself? Do you see it affecting your writing? Do you see it affecting your playing? Do you see it affecting the direction of the band at all?
Dave: (Thinking for a moment) No…I keep “band” and “home” separate, always have. The only thing I can see that affecting is maybe the writing and what inspires me to write. It totally could affect me that way. But I don’t see it as affecting much. We’ve got a great support system… (words are cut-off by door to studio opening and the ripping sounds of Dan shredding through his solos cut through and envelop everyone in the flow of sound emanating from his guitar…)
DB: What is your ultimate goal for the Devil Himself?
Dave: We just play and have fun. That’s what we do. If people come and want to give us a bunch of money someday, that’s great. But it doesn’t really happen that way in the world, so we just keep plugging. We keep putting ourselves out there, hoping that somebody who has some kind of pull hears us. But for the most part its just about having fun and rocking the fuck out of the shows whenever we get the opportunity.Dan: We’re just doing what makes us happy. And for now, that’s all we got.
DB: Tell me a little bit about the new material that you are working on. Does it veer away or does it stay in the same vein as your previous releases?
Dave: Its definitely tDH, but its just that steady progression we’ve been on since Pushing the Panic Button. Each time we get a little bit better, we do a little bit different stuff to refine our sound. We are pretty much really liking our sound right now. We’re really happy with it. So far what we’ve heard in the studio this time is going to be better than the last time and that was just three months ago. We are really happy with that.
DB: How much input does each band member have to the new material? Is it more of a collaborative effort or an individual effort? Does everyone come in with ideas?
Dave: I would say that predominantly what happens is either Dan or I have a couple of riffs per song and we’ll bring it to the band and from that point its whatever each person wants to play. Everybody ad libs. Jason might say, hey, what about this, or someone else might say try this on the vocals. We all kind of tweak our own stuff but we…
Jason: We might even bring in old riffs from a long time ago and talk about how those might fit into this song or that song.
DB: Given the heavier nature of the music, one would think the influences would span from, say, Black Sabbath to even edging toward Soundgarden. What do you feel are your major influences?
Dave: Those are pretty good ones. I would have to say mine, specifically, go to Nirvana, Tool, Chevelle, to Pantera, Metallica…y’know all those bands from back in the day, 90s, 80s…all those rock/metal/grunge bands…love ‘em all.
Jason: Yeah, I grew up listening to Nirvana so that’s probably my main influence. Nirvana and Primus. I always loved Tim Alexander from Primus; that’s what got me wanting to play drums, watching him. Melvins were a huge influence, one of my favorites.
DB: So, you guys relate more to the Seattle grunge type of scene?
Dave: Yeah, with a little bit of Metallica thrown in…
Jason:…old school Metallica and Sabbath. The Devil’s note, stoner rock…
Dan: See, I like all of the pop rock bands, like I’m all about Korn, Disturbed, Deftones. People seem to hate on ‘em because they all made it so big…but they all made it big for a reason. I love Primus, Nirvana…call it cliché but it’s a mixture of everything that’s molding what I think music should be right now. Its what I miss hearing because you just don’t hear that stuff that much anymore. I try to not copy anybody, which is why I could never say this band or that band are my biggest influence. It’s a mixture of all of those bands, bringing back sounds and feelings and memories…that’s what is driving us to create our sound.DB: Speaking of stoner rock, have you guys ever listened to Goblin Cock?
Dave & Jason: Yeah!
Dave: Our bassist three bassists ago, Elliot, LOVED them!
DB: When you mentioned “stoner rock”, that band just sort of clicked in my head…
Jason: I see them more as “wizard rock”. When I think of “stoner rock”, I think more Queens of the Stone Age. That’s sort of how I see us as because we don’t really go off on super-crazy long jams or anything like that. But I don’t really see us as metal either.
DB: How would you guys classify yourselves?
Dave: Probably more as “alternative metal”
Jason: Exactly.
DB: If you had to pick a genre…
Dave: Maybe “grunge metal”, but people don’t like the word “grunge” anymore…
DB: There is something of a stigma, it seems…
Dave: Yeah…
Jason: Mmmm hmmm. “Alternative metal” is probably about right.
DB: If you could pick a “dream” tour line-up, who would you want to share a stage with?
Dave (with no hesitation): I want to be on tour with Tool. Or the Big Four (Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth). That would be pretty sweet. I would get the heebie-jeebies every night. Shit.
Dan: Well, I don’t idolize anybody…DB: What about you, Jason?
Jason: I would have to say Primus. They are my favorite band.
DB: And Austin?
Austin: Oh boy…(thinks)
Dave: Jack Johnson?
(Laughter)
Austin: Hey, Jack Johnson is pretty cool…
(Laughter)
Austin: I don’t know. It’s not really something I have given too much thought to…
Dave: What are you talking about, dude, we’re going on tour tomorrow…
(Laughter)
DB: Where do you see the Devil Himself in a year, two years, four years? What do you want?
Dave: Man…I don’t’ know. That’s a hard one, dude…I just want to have fun doing what we’re doing. I don’t really think too much about what’s going to happen five days from now. I mean, 2012 is next year and we’re all probably going to be dead anyway, right? So I don’t know…
(Laughter)
Dave: Right now we are going to focus on getting past 2012. Start from there and see what happens.
DB: What about you, Jason? Are you of the same opinion?
Jason: Yeah…I mean, I like the local shows where everybody comes out, get to see everybody. If we are still doing exactly the same thing we are now in a year I’ll be happy. I don’t really care about fucking making a lot of money or making it big. Its fun what we’re doing now. People like us locally and when get out and play out-of-town shows, those people seem to like us too. Its like Dave said, its all about getting together and having fun. It’s all about having a beer and chillin’ and playing music. You get a special feeling when someone comes up to you and says, man, that was badass. But we’re just doing it for fun.
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| the Devil Himself, as shot by DJD Photography |
Dave - Vocals /Guitar, Dan - Guitar/Vocals, Jason - Drums, Austin - Bass
@Reverb Nation: www.reverbnation.com/thedevilhimself
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All photos by John Joseph Silveria II, except as noted by DJD Photography.
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